Theory & Introduction

ADLC starts from one claim: agentic development should defend against model failure modes, not human ones. The full argument lives in the ADLC series — this page is the map.

The eight phases, two human gates

Eight phases (P0–P7), two human gates (P1 and P6), deterministic checks between everything. Read Two Human Gates and Everything Between Is Machine-Checked.

The model failure modes

Every phase, gate, and loop traces to one of these — see Stop Running the SDLC on Models That Aren't Human.

Where to go next

• The Lifecycle — the phase/gate map and which tool runs where.
• Prosecution, Not Code Review — the P5 gate in depth.
• The ADLC Toolkit — the tools, by phase.